Taloha ni, Talofa lava, Malo e lelei, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Ni sa bula vinaka, Namaste, Kia orana koutou katoatoa, Ia Orana, Gud de tru olgeta, Talofa, Kia ora tatau and Warm Pacific Greetings to you all this morning.

I am delighted to open this Community-Government Forum and to welcome you all to this very significant event.

This is the first time that such a diverse mix of representatives from the community and voluntary sector, Ministers, and officials have come together under one roof.

We have come to reflect on the journey that has brought us here and to celebrate what we have achieved together and to talk about issues of common concern.

Today, we have about 170 community and voluntary sector people in this room and I thank you all for making the time to be here.

As you know from the programme for the two days, Ministers and officials will be here tomorrow, eager to listen to you and talk about the issues that are important for you, and to them.

I know that the next two days are going to be pretty full-on and exciting.

The fact that you have come here today shows your commitment to developing a way forward, a way of cooperation, unity, inclusion, and a way that will enable the community and voluntary sector and government to better work together to achieve our common goals.

I believe that we all want the same outcomes – a healthy vibrant civil society where all people are supported to achieve their full potential.

By the end of Thursday, I am confident that we will have a way of going forward together, a way of continuing the conversations we will have today and tomorrow.

I don’t need to tell any of you that the community and voluntary sector is extraordinarily important to the health and well-being of our society.

We now know that today in New Zealand we have about 97,000 community organisations with over one million volunteers.

We also know that over $1.27 billion goes into the sector from philanthropic sources, and that over $3 billion of government money goes to the sector as grants or as payment for services.

Our Labour-led government recognises that community and voluntary sector organisations can do things that government working alone cannot.

This is because, at their best, these organisations are more able to access hard-to-reach populations; can be more responsive to stakeholder needs and wants; are able to be innovative; are often more in touch with local communities of interest; and are at the heart of civil society.

This Labour-led government is not afraid to talk about the hard issues, about what is not working for the sector, and that is why this Forum is being held.

In 2001, the Community and Voluntary Sector Working Party described the causes of the gradual breakdown in the relationship between the sector and government as, and I quote –

“more than a decade of social and economic change and state sector reform has left many in community organisations mistrustful of government and feeling undervalued and disempowered in their dealings with bureaucracy.”

Our government is committed to listening to the conversation and to building a joint pathway to action.

Both are essential.

We need to take practical actions that make a real difference. And we need dialogue to help us share and understand each others’ priorities.

There are three things we might want to reflect on when we look ahead.

First, have we made progress?

Since elected, this Labour-led government has taken a number of steps to improve the situation.

This government set up both the Community and Voluntary Sector Working Party and the subsequent Steering Group.

This government created a new Minister of the Crown – the position I now hold as Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector.

We set up the Office for the Community and Voluntary Sector to help with policy and to help improve the relationship between the sector and government.

The Office has run a series of Good Practice in Action Seminars through sharing in ‘what works’ in order to get a shift in attitude across the government about the way agencies relate to sector organisations. We have also supported the sector to build its capacity.

Community-based groups such as the Community Sector Taskforce and philanthropics like Social Services Waikato and the Tindall Foundation have continued to support organisations to build their capacity.

Achieving the vision that we all share of a stronger relationship has not been easy.

It has taken much longer than expected and things didn’t always go as planned, often because we were unsure how we should work together.

I think we can safely say that progress has been made but some long-standing problems persist and we need to get creative about solving these problems together.

I think we are all kidding ourselves if we expect to agree on absolutely everything.

My view is that we must join forces to make better progress.

Secondly, has the relationship between the community and the government improved?

My suspicion is that we would all have mixed views on this.

There is evidence that it has been good in parts, and I hear about many success stories where community and government have worked together to achieve some amazing things for local communities.

I have also heard about cases where the relationship between the community and government is not as good as it could be, where there is still mistrust and a reluctance to work together.

Unfortunately it is often the difficulties which dominate headlines.

There have been a few dented egos and there may be a few more. But for all the difficulties, there has been progress. And this is why I hope that the relationship overall is better.

Thirdly, have we all led the process as well as we might? My sense is that we need to work on the answer to this question together.

The task of strengthening and building the capacity of the sector remains a priority for both the sector and for government.

And when I speak of the ‘sector’ I mean all parts of this complex mix of organisations, from sport, the arts, social services, the environment, and so on.

One group which has focused a lot of effort on strengthening the sector has been the Community Sector Taskforce which government has funded to increase and strengthen existing networks, and raise the profile of the sector.

We have seen also some excellent joint one-off initiatives between the sector and government, and these alliances have enabled resources such as Keeping It Legal E Ai Ki Te Ture and the Community Resource Kit to be produced in response to the needs of sector organisations.

But because some problems persist, I believe the time has come for a more serious and committed approach to joint action between the community and voluntary sector, and government.

What are the keys to solving this puzzle? How will we work out which doors to open that will enable us to work together and complement each other to get the best possible outcomes for all New Zealanders?

I think there are four main areas that we can work on together to improve our relationships.

• Firstly we need to find ways of building on ‘what works’ and we need to share information about what we have learned along the way.

• Secondly we need to strengthen the networks that are working well within the sector, and build new ones.
• Thirdly we need to strengthen the networks between government agencies and achieve better cohesion than we have had to date. We must make ‘joined up’ government more tangible than ever.
• And finally, we need to share the leadership of the community-government relationship work. There are too many players and too many complex issues for leadership to sit with a few. While the sector itself must decide on how it wishes to progress that question, government will redouble its efforts to make the Statement of Government Intentions for an Improved Community-Government Relationship more than a piece of paper.

I acknowledge that crossing some of the hurdles in front of us will be difficult.

The issue of contracts is long-standing and solutions may be difficult given public pressure for accountability and transparency in the use of public funds.

The sector is not uniform. The challenges for large organisations are often very different to those of the thousands of small community-based organisations that have no paid staff but rely on volunteers.

The financial health of the sector is a critical element to its independence. Diverse funding streams are hard to find. The philanthropic sector is now contributing over $1.27 billion per annum. More than ever before. But as government knows only too well, demand exceeds supply.

Understanding our changing country is a crucial part of this.

We are increasingly multi-cultural, we have an aging population and we have different views between the generations about how to do things.

Changes in the economic climate are often unpredictable, as we have seen with the continuing rise in the New Zealand dollar.

Unless we all adapt to the changing environment and needs of citizens, we will fail!

Many organisations are treading water (or struggling), while new ones continue to emerge and face their own challenges.

Our mission is to strengthen the “engine room” of civil society.

Both government and the sector cannot function without partnerships and the benefit of networks.

We can’t achieve those big goals of better health, better education, more cohesive communities without the community sector’s and citizens’ participation.

We are not in competition. You are independent and have the right to be heard. By listening to and trusting each other, both government and the community and voluntary sector can build a strong relationship where we complement each other.

I am excited that this Forum will be the start of a new conversation, one that moves us all forward, where together we can find fresh solutions to old problems.

Great conversations often have small beginnings then grow, as others join in.

I urge this Forum to think about ways it can “grow” the conversation, to share in the leadership and to build on what we all have in common.

I urge you all to participate in an open and constructive way today to identify the issues of common concern and possible ways forward.

We, the Government, seek guidance from you all and ask you to help us to develop a shared, cooperative and united way forward.

My Ministerial colleagues - including the Deputy Prime Minister - and government officials are looking forward to participating tomorrow so that this can happen.

Thank you for giving your time over the next two days to have what I hope will be a conversation that is held in the spirit of openness and generosity, appreciating that it will be difficult at times.

Together we can talk about the hard stuff, the good stuff, the stuff that we share as Kiwis and the knowledge and experience that we have individually and collectively which we can harness and use for the common good.

We all bring to the table our own world views, and cultural values and aspirations.

It is my belief that we can only move forward when we respect each other and find ways to work together, where we can learn from each other.

Let’s rise to the challenge and set our sights high.

There’s an old Samoan proverb which springs to mind:

E so'o le fau ile fau - Each thread derives its strength from being interwoven with others to create a strong fine mat.

When we finish here tomorrow afternoon let us leave knowing that we have worked together to create our own strong, fine mat -- a plan for a way forward together that will ensure an ongoing and productive conversation in the future.

Meitaki Maata.